Roberto Mancini has confirmed Carlos Tevez will captain Manchester City in the FA Cup final against Stoke City if he proves his fitness in time to play. The Argentina striker has just returned to Manchester after receiving treatment in Milan from Daniel Martínez, a doctor with his national team, and Mancini is targeting the game against Tottenham Hotspur, four days before the FA Cup final, as the ideal occasion for Tevez to return after a hamstring injury.

"It is difficult to say if Carlos will play in the final, but it will only happen if he can come back against Tottenham first," the City manager said. "It is very important Carlos is 100% recovered, not 60% or 70%. Now he is back in training with us and he has started running again. We will do everything so he can recover."

City have been competently captained in the last few weeks by Vincent Kompany, but the defender has already said he would not a have a problem stepping down should Tevez return for Wembley, and Mancini explained the captaincy will revert to Tevez as soon as he resumes playing.

Having handed Tevez the armband in the first place to help him make up his mind about staying at the club, Mancini is not about to change tack now, even though the player has so far refused to commit his future to the club and made his own decision to seek treatment in Italy, where naturally he has been linked with other clubs.

Not altogether convincingly, Mancini denied his star player was getting special treatment. "I can respect his decision to seek out a doctor he knows and trusts," he said. "As he is the doctor of a national team we can trust him too. When all your players come from different countries it is hard to tell them not to do this or not to go there.

"What is important now is that he is back with us and working hard to be fit. Everyone here wants to be in the Champions League next season, and to do that we have to fully concentrate on our remaining games."

Mancini denied speculation that Tevez staying at City was dependent on securing a place in the Champions League next season, but said talks about the player's future, along with other matters such as team-strengthening, would commence only once the club's European status for next season was known. "After we know about the Champions League we can talk about everything," Mancini said. "I don't think Carlos is waiting to see whether we finish fourth or not, but that is my own priority and we are very close now."

So close, in fact, that failure to hold on to a four-point advantage over Spurs would count against Mancini to such an extent he would be likely to lose his job. He has other options in Italy should that happen, but insists he wishes to remain at City and see the task through. "First of all I have to concentrate on getting into the Champions League, then I have a contract to see out," he said. "It has been difficult, these last 18 months, but most of the hard work is now done and it will be easier from now on. I would be extremely disappointed to have to leave the next stage to someone else. Once we get into the Champions League we can improve further, but to do that we must get the maximum from our remaining games, step by step beginning with West Ham on Sunday."

On a separate note, with City about to appeal to their supporters to refrain from using the word "Munichs" in chants mentioning Manchester United, Mancini has asked fans to respect their neighbours and the memory of the 1958 air crash. "I did not hear the chants at Blackburn, but have been told of the situation," Mancini said, referring to City supporters using "Munichs" as a derogatory term in a chant celebrating Yaya Touré's winning goal against United at Wembley. "We should have respect for what happened many years ago. Rivalry is good on the pitch, but should be only on the pitch."